In recent decades, energy shortages and the imposition of stricter environmental standards has created an increased awareness that a genuine need to find an alternative power source for motor vehicles exists. This view has been reinforced by the fact that more people are realizing that the supply of organic-based fuels is a finite quantityxe2x80x94it is currently predicted to be depleted by the middle of the 21st century. This realization has led to a number of alternative fuel sources being researched as a possible replacement for petroleum products to reduce the nations dependence on imported oil and to prepare for the time when this resource has been exhausted. These alternative fuel sources include gasohol, hydrogen, and electric power with several other possibilities being investigated. To date, each of these possibilities has not proven to be feasible as a direct replacement, major impediments were discovered during the research, development and early production stage. Gasohol, which is comprised of gasoline containing approximately 10% ethanol, looked promising, but the cost of gasohol is significantly higher than gasoline. Secondly, gasohol is frequently not available due to the high cost of transporting and storing it. Hydrogen has also been promoted as the fuel of the futurexe2x80x94it is abundant, clean and cheap engines have been developed which use hydrogen as a fuel source, but the many problems of fuel supply and distribution must be resolved before hydrogen may be considered as a feasible product for mass energy requirements. Concerns about economics and safety also limit the wider use of hydrogen for decades. Although energy standards have created a clear market for alternative energy cars, manufacturers have to develop an affordable and practical vehicle. Although several automobile companies are testing electrical vehicles, none is considered a practical replacement for the internal combustion engine. Either the car must be recharged too often or they are too expensive. The primary difficulty with electric cars lies in inadequate battery power. Currently, these cars use lead-acid or nickel-cadmium batteries and have a range of 40 to 50 miles on a single charge. This range is reduced by factors such as cold temperatures, the use of air conditioning, vehicle load and steep terrain. Recharging the battery pack usually takes about eight hours. It is generally believed that a major breakthrough in battery technology is needed before an electric vehicle can be feasibly considered as a viable transportation option to the internal combustion engine. I have considered the limitations of electric cars currently available, as described, and have conceptually devised a system, which addresses these limitations. This system, designated as xe2x80x9cDELTA CONVERTER TWOxe2x80x9d.
Would incorporate a roadway transfer system which would work in conjunction with an electrical vehicle propulsion system, provided by the automobile companies, equipped with the capability of acquiring power from the roadway system. The roadway power transfer system would be supplied with electrical power from power provided by: power companies, using a step-down transformer to drop the line voltage down from the kilovolt rang to a workable AC range. The output of the step-down transformer would be routed down the power system, through a conduit, and connected to a rectifier, recessed in the road surface. The rectifier would convert the AC voltage into DC voltage, with this DC voltage being applied to electrically conductive strips, installed in the road surface. Two strips would be used, with the negative potential being applied to one strip and the positive potential being applied to the second strip. The effective DC voltage potential to be made available would be 312 (+) DC volts. Power transfer strips would be installed on both sides of the roadway to make this power available for vehicles going in opposite directions. To utilize the power made available by the strips, the vehicle propulsion system would incorporate conductive material embedded into the tires of the vehicle, to establish electrical contact to enable the transfer of power from the roadway system to the vehicle. The brushes would be electrically connected to the tires, which in turns, are fastened to the suspension system. The DC voltage would then be applied, in parallel, to the internally connected voltage regulator, to the internally contained inverter (converts DC to AC voltage) and also used the DC voltage as a charging source for the internally contained battery pack. Note: The output of the inverter would then be applied to a three phase electrical AC motor, that the automobile companies are using at this time, which is the prime driver providing the vehicle driving torque. The inverter employed would use insulated, gated, bipolar transistors to accomplish the voltage conversion. The battery pack would also be valve regulated; charging current would be applied to the battery pack as required.
BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,071 Tackett, while these device fulfill the respective, particular objective and requirements, the patent, can not provide AC or DC current to any electric vehicles motor, the constructions would not work.
BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,418 Ikeda, while these device fulfill the respective, particular objective and requirements, the patent, can not provide AC or DC current to any electric vehicles motor, the construction would not work.
BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,024 Silver, while these device fulfill the respective, particular objective and requirements, the patent, can not provide AC or DC current to any electric vehicles motor, the construction would not work.
Note: While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the patents can not and do not describe an electrical current generating/distribution system for electric vehicles or any automobiles of present or future.
In this respect, the electrical current generating/distribution system for electric vehicles according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of supplying electrical current to electrically operated vehicles present and future cars. Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved electrical current generating/distribution system for electric vehicles to provide transportation for all.
There has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, additional features of the invention that will be described, and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended here to. In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures. Note: only this system will carry out the purpose for the electric vehicles of the future.